Gary Reeder
all taxidermied mounts have to come into the states via a
Wednesday, May 09, 2018, 20:17

customs office, Most guys that hunt in Africa have their mounts done by one of the companies that specialize in African mounts plus those companies take care of a lot of the paperwork which saves them a lot of hassle. Also this bill would not cover only the Big 5. It lists just about everything in Africa from the little 15 lb Duikers to Zebras and Giraffe.

My mounts usually come thru SEA-TAC which is the customs office in Seattle-Tacoma. They inspect each crate coming in and if this bill passes they would have the authority to refuse admittance to California. Another customs office is in L.A. which would simply refuse to release the mounts or even worse confiscate them.

Also if you read the whole bill, by the way I read it the state would have a reward of $500 for a person turning in a friend or someone that owned African mounts. So word would get out pretty quick. Also licensed taxidermists in the state would have to advise the state of anyone shipping hides and horns to them to do the mounting. So it would be a lose-lose proposition.